who is Isack Hadjar, the new Frenchy of Formula 1?

One more Frenchman! After Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Esteban Ocon (Haas), it is therefore the young Isack Hadjar (20 years old) who joins the crème de la crème of motor racing. In 2025, he will wear the colors of the Racing Bulls team, Red Bull’s little sister, an indirect consequence of the domino effect of the F1 transfer window after the announcement of the ousting of Sergio Perez. Max Verstappen’s former teammate is thus replaced by Liam Lawson who therefore leaves a free seat with the penultimate manufacturer in 2024 (8^e).

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“I am very excited to take on my new role. Racing with the best drivers in the world: it’s the moment I’ve been trying to achieve my whole life. I am ready to work hard and do my best for the team,” emphasizes Yuki Tsunoda’s now teammate, 12^e of the last world championship. Engaged in Formula 2 this year and also third driver for the two teams Red Bull and Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar sees his dream come true after a season which took him through an emotional roller coaster. Winner of four races in F2 and promised to the title, he stalled during the final event of the season, leaving Fernando Alonso’s protégé, Gabriel Bortoleto, to race towards the title. “This is the worst moment of my life,” he collapsed on the radio to his team.

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Young Wolf

If 2024 will remain marked with a white stone with its officialization in the elite, it could definitely have been its dark year. The nerves of the Parisian – who also has Algerian nationality – were indeed put to the test. Beyond the F2 title which is flying away and conjectures of all kinds announcing it here and there in F1 without anything being made official yet, the ambitious boy has not necessarily lived his life as a driver’s understudy well. F1. Seeing and feeling the Grail without being able to touch it could sometimes have seemed like torture for the young wolf. “Third driver, it’s a lot of waiting. And looking at the car without being able to drive it is not a very pleasant experience,” he confided in the columns of L’Equipe.

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Isack Hadjar knows that now the hardest part begins. A steering wheel in F1 is one thing, keeping it is another. And the Frenchman will have a lot to do to confirm the hopes placed in him by Red Bull since 2021. It was that year that he caught the eye of Helmut Marko, the influential Red Bull advisor also responsible for the young pilot sector. On May 22, 2021, he won his first victory in Formula Regionale by Alpine in the streets of Monaco. A prestigious success which propelled him into the Red Bull Junior Team, the team’s training center which trained Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel.

Control your nerves

“I had already returned to my hotel when my manager at the time called me and informed me that Helmut Marko wanted to see me. At first, I didn’t believe it. And then, I crossed the city to go to the Red Bull hotel,” recalls the young driver. From then on, his rise was meteoric. Rookie of the year in F3 in 2022 then heads to the antechamber of F1 the following season during which he will carry out his first free tests in the premier category. Helmut Marko is a fan of it. He even nicknamed him the “Little Prost” because of his small size (1.67 meters), his thoughtful approach to racing and his propensity to know every aspect of his car. “I analyze a lot when I ride, I use my head. It’s really my universe, it’s my domain and I master it so I allow myself to think about things that don’t disturb me. »

However, the boy, much more versatile than his illustrious elder, can still let himself be overcome by frustration and anger to the point of losing his temper on the radio. A point that he will have to erase if he wants to last in the elite. “But it’s his personality so he has to find a happy medium to keep his identity without being noticed,” puts his mother and manager Randa into perspective. In F1, it’s all about balance.